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2022-08-26
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"Only six electronic digital
computers would be required to satisfy
the computing needs of the entire
United States."
Howard Aiken
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During his time working on this PhD
at Harvard, Howard Aiken encountered
differential equations that he could
only solve numerically. He envisioned
an electro-mechanical computing device
that could do much of the tedious work
for him.
With funding from IBM and help from
Grace Hopper, Aiken completed the
Harvard Mark I in 1944. This machine
could add, subtract, multiply, divide,
and refer to previous values.
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1900 - 1973
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"Life before World War II was
simple. After that, we had systems."
Grace Hopper
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Our story about the earliest days of
computers would be incomplete -- and
duller -- if we forgot to mention
Grace Hopper. An associate professor
in math and physics at Vassar, in 1943
she joined the Navy and was assigned
to work with Howard Aiken on the
Harvard Mark I. After her discharge
from the service, she continued
working on the Mark series computers.
It was Hopper who found a moth stuck
in a Mark II relay, and commented that
she had "debugged" the computer.
She returned to the military and was
instrumental in developing the COBOL
language, which caused a colleague to
remark, "But Grace, now anyone can
program a computer."
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Many students of computing remember
hearing her lecture and receiving a 19
inch piece of wire. That 19 inches is
the distance that light or an electron
can move in one nanosecond. This is
why "live" TV reporters often have
that dumb look on their faces right
after being asked a question. It is a
long way up to the satellite and back!
She also admitted to creating the
"Y2K bug" -- using two digit year
data. No one could imagine in the
1960's that the government and
businesses would still be using the
same programs 40 years later!
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1906 - 1992
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